Head of Supply Chain Ice-cream UK & Ireland

ABOUT ICE CREAM: Life Tastes Better With Ice Cream

We spark moments of happiness for people and within the communities where we operate. As ice cream makers, we are serious about happiness. With warm hearts, we create the coolest products, and we supply them to our consumers. As the largest ice cream company in the world, we have over 100 years of experience in delivering smiles, and we plan to continue this for many more years to come.

If you are in the current Unilever Ice Cream business or considering working for the newly separated Ice Cream business, you will work for the Global leading Ice Cream player in a growing category where we are part of the 1 trillion snacking and refreshment industry, growing consistently at high pace. We are investing to unlock the full growth potential of Ice Cream as a standalone entity, once we separate from Unilever, which is planned to happen by November 2025.

Committed to innovation, quality, and sustainability, we have 35 brands, including 3 one billion Euro brands (Magnum, Wall’s, Ben & Jerry’s), a strong presence in over 60 countries, generating annual revenue of over $8 billion, of which 2.8b comes from the Europe region.

As part of the supply chain team, you will turn the ordinary into the extraordinary by supplying unique and high-quality products to our customers and consumers, coordinating the entire E2E supply chain network in an efficient and sustainable way.

• Coordinate country S&OP process, collaborating with finance and sales teams to drive accurate demand and support proper cash-up process.
• Business partner with the cluster General Manager to manage demand, seasonality, and support overall growth plan.
• Collaborate with the EU integrated planning director to implement demand planning transformation in the market, including machine learning and operational rigor.
• Responsibility of country inventory, SLOBs, and accountability to manage country business waste reduction program.
• Full responsibility of logistic cost, logistic excellence execution, primary and secondary warehouse operational management and control.
• Close collaboration with the Gloucester Factory lead, who is also a member of the UKI Leadership team, to ensure seamless end-to-end SC excellence.
• Collaborate with sales teams and customers to drive supply chain customer collaboration and development with the target to not only improve service level (DR, OSA etc) but drive full customer supply chain partnership (AGS score improvement).
• Lead the Customer Experience team with an operational focus on Order to Deliver, Order to Cash, and Customer Collaboration processes. Managed end-to-end supply chain operations, ensuring seamless communication across relevant interfaces including allocation management and service risk management.
• Engaged in strategic and operational collaboration with internal HUB/Support Centres and external service providers (IBM, Genpact) to enhance order management and delivery efficiency.
• Coordinate and support supply chain hubs (e.g. iOps updated program) from master data to cash collection process etc.
• Understanding of financial principles to manage budgets, reduce costs, and improve profitability. The country SC head is responsible for managing service, gross margin, and cash in the country.
• Be the one point of contact for the country General Manager regarding supply chain operational topics (excluding manufacturing) including in-market safety, quality, sustainability, innovation.

SKILLS:

• Strategic Thinking: ability to develop and implement long-term strategies that align with BU goals, country strategy and targets and drive supply chain cost/service/cash balance.
• Effective Communication: to convey complex information clearly and build relationships with stakeholders at all levels (GM, BU Head, BU CFO, BU CMO).
• Confidence and capability: to highlight and challenge decisions when they do not take into consideration full E2E impact.
• Truly business partner mindset: bringing supply chain at the core of the general manager decision, confidence to challenge and collaborate with the country leadership team and EU BU SC LT to always aim for the best results for the business.
• “Can Do” (founder) mentality: to unlock problems and drive accurate, effective solutions with speed, showing passion and motivation for business growth.
• Extensive analytical skills: to analyze data to make informed decisions, optimize processes and costs.
• Risk Management skills: to identify, assess, and mitigate risks within the supply chain to ensure continuity and resilience and to inform and guide the GM operational decisions (e.g. assumptions, inventory risks, service risks/opportunity).
• Commitment: to identify and nurture talent, providing mentoring, coaching, and fostering a collaborative team environment.
• Transformative and innovative leadership: open to change and transform the status-quo and implement pioneering and digital processes and tools to solve complex problems and overcome challenges within the supply chain and the extended business.
• Flexibility: to adapt to changing market conditions, technologies, and organizational needs.

EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS:

Bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, Information Technology, Logistics, or a related field; a Master’s degree is preferred. 10+ years of experience in supply chain management leadership roles, preferably within the food and snacking industry. Proven track record of leading large-scale transformations in a global supply chain context. Strong understanding of advanced supply chain planning and go-to-market excellence, including understanding of the emerging and new technologies that can improve and extend efficiencies – especially across the cold chain. Experience with global supply chain operations, including procurement, manufacturing, logistics, and distribution.

LEADERSHIP:

Exceptional leadership and team management skills, with a demonstrated ability to drive innovation and change. Foster a collaborative and inclusive work environment that promotes curiosity, experimentation, professional growth and development. Provide guidance and support to the team, ensuring alignment with company objectives. Drive talent development and succession planning to ensure a strong pipeline of future leaders. Have the ‘gravitas’ (experience, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills), allowing to interact with senior stakeholders effectively and efficiently across the company.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Unilever is an Equal Opportunity Employer that embraces diversity and encourages applicants from all walks of life. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.

We take pleasure seriously. Join the Ice Cream team now!